vital task, and in the post-SOX world where even one simple, unintentional error could create a material weakness (it doesn’t help that the financial statement auditors are looking for blood when it comes to tax) that costs everyone their jobs. Plus my experience is that many candidates at manager or below are lying about their tax provision experience and/or think they can learn it on the fly (when they’ve been in tax 15+ years and haven’t yet picked it up, they won’t).

I’m always extremely upfront about tax accounting requirements during interviews & even quiz candidates about basic-to-intermediate knowledge, plus rarely hire unless they’re referred by someone I know & trust. Even then I’ve had to fire 2 people who oversold their experience, both within the first couple of months of their hiring.

I’ve even seen multiple VPs of tax with 30+ years of experience who’ve been let go after the CFOs figured out that they were faking their tax provision knowledge. It’s such a difficult knowledge set & difficult audit piece to resolve & is only getting more complex. More & more big companies are even outsourcing it. But it can make a tax career very lucrative, I always tell prospective accountants that if they master tax accounting principles it’s the quickest way in accounting to a 6-figure salary.